Falling Short
by Drasis
Summary: Ruby comes home as a greater hero than his father, and Norman feels prouder of his son than he ever has. However, there is one problem: Norman has yet to come to terms to the fact that he had once abandoned his family, no matter how noble the reason.


**.: Falling Short :.**

**o-o-o-o-o**

His son had helped save Hoenn.

As a father, Norman could ask for nothing more. He was proud, extremely proud, and he could actually imagine himself sitting through one of Ruby's contests, watching the boy gracefully manipulate the crowd into loving every bit of movement his Pokemon creates, and mean it when he says, "That's my son."

So why was there a constricting feeling in his chest whenever he pictured Ruby as a hero?

It was as if there was something missing, but if there was, what was it? He already had everything he wanted: a loving wife, a Gym to call his own, and a son who had garnered fame and honor through his selfless acts of bravery.

_What was he missing?_

This thought first occurred to him during the interview two annoying reporters insisted on one afternoon just as he had entered in his own living room. Their first few questions were simple, like _How did it feel like to suddenly get caught up in the affairs of a region you are new to? _and _Tell us, how did you keep yourself composed all throughout the crisis?_

But then, the reporter (whose name was Gabby, he recalled her introducing herself briefly) asked, "Norman, my partner, Ty, and I travelled with your son, Ruby, throughout Hoenn, and we can easily say that he has changed a lot since we first met him. Please state how you felt when you saw him fearlessly face Teams Aqua and Magma, and if there is anything you would wish to say to him now that he is considered a hero of Hoenn."

That was when Norman got that heart-clenching feeling he could not quite shake off. He did not know how to answer the question, so instead he gave the reporter and the ecstatic cameraman behind her a rather reluctant smile, and told them that perhaps the question should be answered by his wife.

Fortunately, Gabby liked this idea, and Norman simply had to call out his wife's name before she was at his side, shyly smiling at the press. Gabby repeated the question, and as Norman's wife answered, her eyes welled with tears of mixed emotions: happiness, relief and pride. She stated she had been evacuated to New Mauville during the incident, and she had been frightened beyond belief when she was told that _her_ _Ruby_, of all people, had joined the fight against the two villainous groups. However, it had all been worth it when it was reported that the crisis had ended, and that two children — one of them Ruby — had been the primary forces of salvation during the battle.

"It makes the idea of having raised him seem so uplifting!" Norman's wife punctuated, and that simple sentence was the answer for Norman.

He had left Ruby five years before. True, it was to make up for the boy's mistake, but nothing he could ever do would make up for lost time. He had taught Ruby how to battle when he was very young, hammered it into his mind that Pokemon were friends and that he should think about the good of others before his own, but what did all those mean if he had been absent for the past five years, when Ruby began to need him most?

His wife could easily say that it was an honor to have raised such a child, but he could not, because he had been a huge hole in the boy's life since that incident with the Salamence too many years ago. As a father, he left much to be desired.

Norman barely heard when the reporter asked if there was anything they would like to tell Ruby.

The camera focused on his wife, and she said, "Um . . . Ruby, if you're watching this, could you come home? I've already prepared for the party. . . . Today's our neighbor Sapphire's birthday!" Tears began to flow once more, and Norman's wife wiped them off with a napkin.

"Her birthday party . . ." she went on, "and your birthday that we were supposed to celebrate eighty days ago. . . . It's a party for both of you!"

She had prepared for a party. Now that Norman looked properly, he could see plates, food, and a huge cake on the dining table.

_A birthday party,_ he thought wistfully, his attention drifting completely from the interview. The last birthday party he had attended was Ruby's, on a warm day of July five years ago.

_Five years? _he thought to himself. _It feels like an eternity._

**o-o-o-o-o**

The sun was setting when he saw them, running side by side from Route 101. He made it an effort to keep his expression strict and calm, but he could hear his son and his most recent challenger and neighbor laughing so cheerfully that he could not stop a smile from making its way onto his face, however small.

Beside him, his wife clapped her hands together. "They're here!" She then proceeded to dash back into the house to check if anything had been misplaced, rejoining Mrs. Birch and leaving Norman and Birch on the front porch to greet the oncoming pair.

Birch chuckled at the sight of the two children racing through a crowd of townspeople as if caught up in a world of their own.

"Well, look at that," said the professor. "Sapphire had forsaken the mere idea of wearing clothes since she started helping me in my research, but she meets Ruby, and _bam!_ Hello, stylish outfit! And if my poor memory on fashion isn't lying, this is her second one."

"I have a feeling it was Ruby who made those clothes," said Norman shortly, not at all disapprovingly.

"Papa!"

Sapphire's shout interrupted all conversation. Norman watched placidly as the girl launched herself onto her father's open arms, Birch laughing delightedly as he welcomed his daughter back.

Norman's insides stirred with an unfathomable emotion.

He glanced at Ruby, who merely gave him an awkward smile he had no courage to return — and that was it. No hugs, no verbal greetings, no fond laughter. Norman wanted to crush the nearest Pokegear in sight for contemplating the mere thought of receiving any warmth from his son.

**o-o-o-o-o**

The hotheaded, beauty-obsessed boy now arguing with Sapphire in the living room was a far cry from the ruthless warrior Norman had battled on top of the Weather Institute. It was as if Ruby had two completely different personas. One was this faintly effeminate Pokemon Coordinator who focused on nothing but contests. But this was a mere guise, because buried deep inside, under layers of sorrow and suffering, was a true fighter, extremely skilled and powerful, but hidden due to a great fear of abandonment.

Norman wished he had preserved the latter character.

He observed the two children from the head of the table, arms crossed, his expression as firm as ever. He could not afford to let anyone — especially not Ruby — see his iron-like façade yield.

Suddenly, there was a loud, inhuman cry, and Norman raised one brow due to the surprise of seeing that Sapphire had tackled Ruby on the sofa, her knees on his stomach as her hands threatened to strangle him, which she might have succeeded in doing had Ruby not been hindering her with his vice-like grip on her forearms.

Ruby spluttered. "Will you get _off_ me! You'll get dirt on my shirt! Plus — _ow!"_

Sapphire had dug her knees deeper into his stomach.

"That hurt before, but it hurts even _more_ now!" yelled Ruby, trying to push Sapphire away, but failing due to that fact that he still had enough respect for girls to avoid hitting them — even if the girl in question was Sapphire.

"I'll jump off of you if you promise me that you're not gonna put a _freakin' _ribbon on Toro's head the next time you groom her!"

"It was a _joke!_ Don't you have a sense of humor, barbarian?_ Ouch!_ Fine — I won't, _I won't!"_

Sapphire sighed contentedly. "Good." She jumped onto a crouching position, her feet steady on a sputtering Ruby's torso, kicked herself off the boy, and landed steadily on the carpet.

"That," Ruby said strangledly from the sofa, clutching his stomach, "is the most painful thing I have ever experienced!"

Norman could not hold back a quiet chuckled when Sapphire produced a vine from her pocket and used it to whip Ruby's head, causing the boy to complain about how much mud and tree bark the vine had transferred onto his hat, and how in the world she had fitted the vine into her pocket in the first place.

"Stop being a sissy!" Sapphire tried to slap him, but Ruby hurriedly scrambled and pressed himself against the corner of the sofa before she could make contact.

From the other side of the room, Norman caught Birch's eye. Their wives were both in the kitchen, washing the dishes and chatting, so only the two of them were witnessing the humorous event taking place. Unlike Norman, Birch's face was red with repressed laughter, and his lips were shaking with mirth.

The children went on with their quarrel. Norman looked once more at Birch, who seemed as though he wanted to walk over and break the two apart before any serious injuries could be inflicted, but instead he began to move toward Norman, much to the Gym Leader's chagrin.

"Aren't you going to stop them from bickering?" rumbled Norman, raising an eyebrow.

Birch merely shrugged. "I decided against it. The way they flirt is healthy for both of them. They're both really energetic, so it's good exercise."

Norman had begun to nod his affirmation when he realized just what Birch had said.

For once, Norman abandoned impassiveness, and spoke indignantly. "Wait, _flirt?"_

Birch looked at him wildly, as if he had just let the earlier statement slip without thinking, then scratched his head and laughed sheepishly.

"Sapph's coach, Winona, just told me something yesterday while I was paying a visit to the Pokemon Association's headquarters," he explained, flashing a sly smile. "Apparently, _something_ happened between Ruby and Sapph after they left Mirage Island."

"Is that so?" Norman pretended not to be interested.

Birch snickered. "Yep. From what Winona told me, it was a little romantic. She didn't have many details, but what would you expect? She wasn't there at the time, I heard. It was Wallace who saw the whole thing."

"Tell me what happened," pried Norman, keeping his voice casual. "Everything you know."

He fixed his gaze on Ruby and Sapphire, who had long resumed their bickering. This time, they were not very physical, but they resorted to loud, verbal means Norman was sure could be heard throughout Littleroot.

Birch pulled the chair closest to Norman and settled himself onto it, eyeing his friend shrewdly.

"I knew you'd be interested," he said. "I'll admit, I was — maybe — a little bit scared when I heard, but hey, I'm a father whose daughter might have those — those _feelings_ for a friend."

"Cut to the chase," said Norman.

Birch sighed, apparently weary of his impatience.

"Right. So, Sapph and Ruby were on Pilo, my Tropius, talking. Well, from what I was told, Sapph did most of the talking — then Ruby called Wallace's aircar and pushed Sapph into it, together with Plusle and Minun, and locked them —"

"I don't get it," Norman cut him off.

"Well, details aren't that important!" Birch shrugged. "I'm not good at explaining _events_. Okay, so Sapph and the two Pokemon were in the aircar. Ruby pulled his hat off, most probably to remind Sapph about who he was — remember they used to play together when they were little? I think they both forgot all about each other beforehand or something. Yeah, so, he mentioned a lot of stuff, like being grateful for some bet they made, and telling Sapph he can't let her come with him in the battle because — and this is really sweet but it makes me feel a bit disturbed at the same time — he liked her _too_. Can you believe it?"

Norman's throat felt incredibly dry. He took a deep breath before asking nonchalantly, "Your point being?"

Birch slapped his own face. "Man, and I thought I'd emphasized it enough! Your boy said _'too'_. _'Too'_, if you didn't get it. So that means — that means —" He began to choke up, pulling at his hair.

"— that Sapphire said it before Ruby?" finished Norman.

"YES!" wailed Birch, smashing his face into the table, causing the objects of their discussion turn their heads at them warily. "EXACTLY MY POINT!"

"Papa?" Sapphire's voice called timidly, watching her father bang his head on the table.

"It's nothing of importance," answered Norman gruffly. "Your father is just overreacting about something that you should not be worrying about. Continue with whatever you are doing."

He looked at them for a second, and he met Ruby's gaze. The boy looked innocent and curious, and for one mad second Norman was reminded of a child's face — scared, uneasy and abandoned — when he had left to search for Rayquaza.

He felt as if someone had dropped a huge iceberg in his heart, and he quickly tore his gaze from his son, instead opting to slap Birch's back with enough force to break a wall.

Amidst Birch's moans of exaggerated pain and Ruby and Sapphire's deafening but playful banter, Norman could not help but notice that — for some reason — his chest had actually begun to feel _lighter_.

He turned his eyes to look at Sapphire, and thought to himself that if there was someone in the world who had could provide his son a kind of love neither he nor his wife could, then that was enough for him.

And who ever said he could not start anew his relationship with Ruby?


End file.
